The Exchange
Justin Shoulder & Dewey Dell
Presented byArts House and Next Wave
Program 1: Sat 19 – Tue 22 May 2012
75 minutes, including interval
Program 2: Thu 24 – Sun 27 May 2012
85 minutes, including interval
The Exchange has been supported by theAustralian Government through the AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, its arts funding andadvisory body, the Next Wave Festival, and theCity of Melbourne through Arts House.
The Exchange is a reciprocal process ofdevelopment, presentation and exchangebetween two young and exciting theatrecompanies: Italy’s Dewey Dell and Australiancollaborating artists Justin Shoulder, TobyKnyvett and Nick Wales. The project hasbeen facilitated by artist and creativeproducer Jeff Stein.
Notes from Jeff Stein
“That is finally what it means to be alone.To spin oneself into the silk of one’s own soul,to mask oneself in one’s own cocoon, andwait for the metamorphosis, which neverfails to come about.” August Strindberg
The exchange is a context to co-present twogroups of artists who I think share somethinginteresting in common, although that thing isnot easily definable – I guess it’s about theirability to manifest an uncanniness on stage.The work is both visual and physical theatre,but not in any normal sense of those words.They create unique atmospheres, denseatmospheres, through their ability to fuselight, sound, image and movement – that istheir magic.
What I love about the work is that it’s notdealing with the banality of the everyday,although it is very human in a strange way.It is similar to my relation to my dog, mydog reminds me of things: love, loyaltyand joy that no human can embody –our relationship to animals reminds usof our own humanity or our lacking ashuman beings.
“In the final instance, magic is not aknowledge of names, but a gesture –a breaking free from the name.Happy and without a name, the creatureknocks at the gates of the land of magicwho speaks in gesture alone.”
Giorgio Agamben
Biographies
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell was formed in 2007 by Teodora,Demetrio and Agata Castellucci, and EugenioResta. The four grew up together artistically,sharing the important formative experience ofthe Stoa school for rhythmic movement basedin Cesena, Italy.
Teodora, Agata, Eugenio and Demetrio havestrong skills in different areas; each of themgiving priority to a specific aspect of DeweyDell’s work, without giving up their collectivemodelling of the artistic material. Since 2007Dewey Dell has created à elle vide (2007),KIN KEEN KING (2008), Baldassarre (2009),Cinquanta Urlanti, Quaranta Ruggenti,Sessanta Stridenti (2010) and Grave (2011/12);as well as various forms of live concert incollaboration with Demetrio Castellucci’smusic group, Black Fanfare. Dewey Dell is partof Fies Factory, a project of Centrale Fies.
The name Dewey Dell is a tribute to the USauthor William Faulkner and the young girlof his As I Lay Dying, under whose gaze thecompany prepares itself to wander towardsthe abyss.
Justin Shoulder
Justin Shoulder creates urban mythologies:stories inspired by interests such as ecology, decay, consumption,human and animalrelationships, masquerade, glitter, dancemusic and more. Drawing from the universallineage of mythical creatures – dragons,chimeras, vampire demons, serpents, monkeygods and others – he creates his own‘fantastic creatures’, using costume and itstransformative powers to tell their storiesthrough performance.
Justin Shoulder’s performance practicehas been nurtured in nightclubs includingSydney’s Club Kooky and the Oxford ArtFactory. He is a co-founder of The GlitterMilitia – a conglomerate of cabaret, drag,mime, clowning, circus and strip-show artistswhose events have included You Lil Stripper(Lanfranchi’s and the Red Rattler); ClownCult (Under the Radar and Harvest Festivals);and The Cabinet of Curiosities (a residencyat The Rocks, Sydney). He has co-curatedand performed in queer performance festivalQuick & Dirty (2009) and toured to severalfestivals as a solo performer. As a visualartist he has appeared in both group and soloexhibitions in Sydney since 2007. Film projectsinclude performing in Amy Gebhardt’s Into theSun (2011) and Rebecca Stegh’s Balthius andthe Ugliness of Others (2012).
In 2010 he took part in Jeremy Neideck’sfirst development of Hidden Lands. As anensemble performer he has appeared inTheatre Kantanka’s Bargain Garden (2011) andBrook Andrew’s Travelling Colony, SydneyFestival opening night 2012.
Nick Wales
Sydney-based composer Nick Wales worksacross contemporary dance, popular music,film, theatre, fashion and new music. Hehas collaborated with Justin Shoulder onperformance and installation projects since2007. In 2012 he has arranged orchestrationsfor Sarah Blasko’s forthcoming album,collaborated with Rafael Bonachela for SydneyDance Company’s 2oneAnother; worked ona new creation with choreographer ShaunParker for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad;and performed with Holly Throsby’s See!project. He is a founding member and cocomposerof CODA, a critically acclaimedmusic group that incorporates classical stylingwith contemporary rock and electronica. Hehas collaborated frequently with Shaun Parkeron works including Happy as Larry (with Breevan Reyk), Spill, The Yard and This Show isAbout People. Other commissions include forthe Sydney Symphony, Matchbox Pictures,STUDIO TV, Brisbane Festival’s City of Lights,Anton’s Supermodern, the NRL, SydneyChildren’s Choir, Firewater on Sydney Harbour,Bell Shakespeare Company, Romance WasBorn, Dion Lee and Akira Isogawa. He alsoworks with filmmaker Paola Morabito andelectronic musician Jonny Seymour.
Toby K
Sydney-based lighting and vision designerToby K works across theatre, concerts andcontemporary performance. Recent workincludes lighting design for The BugalugsBum Thief national tour for Monkey BaaTheatre Company; and Chicago ShakespeareTheatre’s Funk it Up About Nothin’, whichplayed Chicago, London and Australia’seast coast.In addition to his lighting practice Toby Kcreates interactive projection artworks. Hislatest work, Feedback, was developed inpartnership with Performance Space, CriticalPath and Merrigong Theatre Company.Feedback explores the relationship betweenperformers, audience and technology. The2011 development deployed brainwavereadingheadsets to detect the audience’smental responses. Toby developed customalgorithms which used this data to modify theparameters of the performance environmentlive. This led to further response from theperformers, and in turn further data fromthe audience members’ brains, creating afeedback loop.
Jeff Stein
Jeff Stein works as an artist, performer,director, creative producer and programmerfor theatre, events and festivals. His practiceis hybrid, traversing visual arts, philosophy,architecture, dance and theatre; and is fuelledby the tension and synergies between thesedisciplines. For 12 years he was a memberof Gravity Feed Performance Ensemble,performing in all its major productions.He has also performed with Post Arrivalists,Erth Theatre, Gekidan Kaitaisha, and SocìetasRaffaello Sanzio; and has worked on numeroussmaller collaborations and solo performances.In 2007 he was awarded an Australia CouncilInter-Arts Fellowship.In 2012 Jeff Stein has continued hiscollaboration with Chiara Guidi from Italiancompany Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, devisinga new children’s theatre work; and with DenisBeaubois and William McClure on a large-scaleintimate installation, Impasse, for MelbourneFestival. He also continues his collaborationwith Paul Gazzola on the work Overlay.
A Note from Arts House
The Exchange had a number of beginnings:Dewey Dell’s work was seen by Arts HouseAssociate Producer Olivia Anderson atTorinoDanza in 2011; creative producer JeffStein proposed a collaboration with thecompany; and Sydney-based artist JustinShoulder, Emily Sexton at Next Wave and Iwere keen to collaborate on an internationalproject during the Next Wave residency atArts House. Fruitful conversations with theartists meant this opportunity was created;we look forward with great excitement to itsrealisation and future resonances.
Angharad Wynne-Jones,
Creative Producer Arts House
Program 1
JUSTIN SHOULDERV
Artists Credits
Devisor/Performer/Costumes: Justin ShoulderOriginal Music: Nick WalesVision Designer: Toby KCreative Producer and Outside Eye: Jeff SteinCostume Design Assistance: Matthew SteghSet Construction: Ben Stegh, Ian Shoulder
Special Thanks
Performance Space, The Glitter Militia, Queen Street Studio, Reverse Garbage
Program Note
Calling to life a demon for today, the creature ‘V’ is manifest.In a ceremony of the senses the theatre becomes an altar for Vto revel in the beauty and horror of contemporary idolatry andits 15 minutes of fame.
Justin Shoulder
DEWEY DELLCinquanta Urlanti, Quaranta Ruggenti, Sessanta Stridenti(Furious Fifties, Roaring Forties, Screaming Sixties)
Artists Credits
Creators: Agata, Demetrio and Teodora Castellucci, Eugenio RestaPerformers: Sara Angelini, Agata Castellucci, Teodora CastellucciChoreographer:Teodora CastellucciOriginal Music:Demetrio CastellucciSets and Lighting:Eugenio RestaSet Realisation: Rinaldo RinaldiProsthesis: Istvan Zimmerman, Giovanna Amoroso, Chiara BocchiniSound:Marco CanaliGraphics:Clio CasadeiDewey Dell is part of the project Fies FactoryProduction: Dewey Dell
Special Thanks
Paride Piccinini, Anagoor, Carmen Castellucci, Zapruder filmmakersgroupCinquanta Urlanti, Quaranta Ruggenti, Sessanta Stridenti (Furious Fifties, Roaring Forties, Screaming Sixties) was originally co-produced with Centrale Fies Romaeuropa Festival, Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Festival Uovo Performing Arts; with the support of NEXT/Regione Lombardia, and the Programma Cultura della Commissione Europea project Focus on Art and Science in the Performing Arts.
Program Note
Furious Fifties, Roaring Forties, Screaming Sixties are the proper names of three groups of winds that blow over the seas of the Antarctic.
Our work springs from a reflection on the ship and its inhabitants.
There’s no difference between the sailor and his own ship. From the very moment when the ship leaves the harbour a new, single, floating body is born.
This new being, tied indissolubly to the water and the wind, becomes an enormous organism whose borders are blurring.
The noises of screeching ropes, the creaking of soaked wood, the sound of embarked objects that answer to the ship rolling on the waves, melt into sailors’ voices and merge with orders screamed by the captain.
An obscure jumble becomes the general breath: the sound of a world where the man, the wind, the ship and the sea, inextricably combined together, form the only conceivable protagonist.
Dewey Dell
Program 2
JUSTIN SHOULDERThe River Eats
Artists Credits
Devisor/Performer/Costumes: Justin ShoulderOriginal Music:Nick WalesVision Designer:Toby KCreative Producer and Outside Eye:Jeff SteinCostume Construction and Design Assistance:Matthew Stegh, Marty Jay, Violeta Shoulder, Ian Shoulder, Ami Shoulder, Anthony Aitch, Phoebe Hyles, Alistair Watts, Yasmina Black, Vincent ValentineSet Construction:Dillon MacEwan Pinky Skype VideoCamera/SFX:Rebecca SteghAssistant:Matthew Stegh Pinky Music VideoConcept and Design:Justin ShoulderCo-Director:Amy GebhardtCinematography:Bonnie ElliotEditor:Megan VoevodinSFX:Rebecca SteghMake-Up Collaborator:Mat HornbyAll music original except for excerpt from: Johann Sebastian Bach, Concerto for Harpsichord No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056 II. Arioso Largo
Special Thanks
Violeta Shoulder, Ian Shoulder, Ami Shoulder, Matthew Stegh, Alistair Watts, Lucas Habte, Phoebe Woww, Samara Shehata, Matt Format, Frasers Studios, Reverse Garbage, Hedge, Joey Ruigrok van der Werven and Anna Tregloan
The River Eats has been commissioned and supported by the Next Wave Festival and the City of Melbourne through Arts House, and developed through a residency at Performance Space, Sydney.
Program Note
This is the journey of Pinky, a contemporary clown. Are they laughing or wearing a frown? Refracting through this techno hall of mirrors, Pinky’s identity is undergoing a metamorphosis.
An underlying principle in Taoism states that within every independent entity lies a part of its opposite. Within sickness lies health, within Pinky lies the fantastic creature OO. An exploration of dualism: synthetic/natural, good/evil, body/soul, human/animal, light/ dark, life/death. An exercise in movement and stillness.
Justin Shoulder
DEWEY DELLGrave
Artists Credits
Creators: Agata, Demetrio and Teodora Castellucci, Eugenio RestaPerformers: Agata Castellucci, Teodora Castellucci; and participants from Arts House, Meat Market workshops, Sally Lewry, Leah Landau, Renae Shadler, Kate Laverack, Ellen Rijs, Ching Ching Ho, Mattie Young, Kerith Manderson-Galvin, Zoe EnticotChoreographer:Teodora CastellucciOriginal Music:Demetrio CastellucciSets and Lighting:Eugenio RestaCostumes: Chiara Bocchini, Carmen Castellucci, Daniela FabbriGraphics:Clio CasadeiDewey Dell is part of the project Fies FactoryProduction: Dewey Dell
Special Thanks
Clàudia Tatinge Nascimento, Taeko Seguchi, Momoi Shimada, Haruka Inoue and quelli del Buio Grave was originally co-produced by Centrale Fies, NEXT festival, Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai + Valenciennes, Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint-Denis, Fondazione Fabbrica Europa, in collaboration with AMAT per Civitanova Danza.
Program Note
‘Grave’ is an Italian word which indicates something that has a weight, that is subject to the force of gravity.
The movement of this short performance is about the sensation of a precipitating body, the slowness of its gestures while gravity makes it crash to the ground at a stratospheric speed.
The moment is firm in the speed.
A motionless moment inside the speed of a body which knows it’s going to crash to the ground.
Dewey Dell
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